The Vampyre:
Dr. Polidori's contribution
to gothic literature
The
tragically short
life of John Polidori
is woven into the
history of dark
romance as birthright
and as legacy.
His father was a
scholar who translated
the seminal gothic
novel The Castle
of Otronto into
Italian. Among his
nieces and nephews,
born after his death,
were Christina and
Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
the revered figures
of the Victorian
Pre-Raphaelite era.
Doctor John Polidori
earned his degree
in medicine from
the University of
Edinburgh at 19,
and took a special
interest in the
study of hypnotism
and somnambulism.
At the age of 20,
Polidori became
Lord Byron's personal
physician. With
Byron, Percy Shelley
and Mary Wollstonecraft,
he was a part of
the famous summer
when Frankenstein
was written. Polidori
was not treated
well by Byron and
Shelley, and he
was released soon
after.
Inspired by a fragment
of a story by Byron,
he wrote a book
titled The Vampyre.
The vampire described
in the story was
based on Byron himself,
and is considered
to be the source
of the contemporary
portrayal of the
vampire as a cruel,
cultured aristocrat.
John
Polidori died at the
age of 26. Officially,
his death was deemed
to be from a natural
but undetermined cause.
Historians believe
however that he most
likely committed suicide
by taking prussic
acid. The credit and
acclaim for The Vampyre
was originally given
to Lord Byron after
an unauthorized early
publication. In his
life, Polidori never
received the respect
he had earned.
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